‘Unaccompanied’ minors? Accompanied foreign minors, families and new technologies

Abstract

This work aims to make apparent the importance of family, throughout the life trajectories of a group of young people whose very juridical designation—unaccompanied foreign minors—seems to preclude the possibility of recognising and appreciating such importance. Here, we present the results of an ethnographic and participatory research with ‘unaccompanied’ foreign minors in Bizkaia (Spain). By using our chosen methodology, we were able to understand how, with their currently transitory lifestyles as children in care, they fulfil their own social, emotional and identity needs, needs that the Social Care System alone is unable to meet. This study also shows how digital media cross all the social relations of these children. Digital media become an essential methodological tool for studying the daily life of young migrants.